Packaging materials are obviously used in a number of industries to deliver products to end consumers. In many of these industries, bags are used to enclose the product and permit easy transport by the consumer. Bags are a popular choice since they can be made from a variety of materials (e.g. paper, plastic, vinyl, etc.) and are relatively inexpensive. Bags can also be easily designed to accommodate a particular purpose, such as a shopping bag, lunch bag, heavy duty tote bag, etc. Boxes are popular for their structural rigidity and scalability, however, they are frequently bulky and more expensive than other materials.
Bags are often used to transport food products and/or items that are delicate. For food items, the top of the bag is typically rolled down to keep the food inside somewhat insulated from the external atmosphere. This results in reduced available volume for the food products and can also result in compression of the food items. For delicate items, bags are typically made with greater thicknesses and reinforced panels to increase the structural integrity of the bag; however, the bag still typically has a relatively weak upper portion.
Within the food product field, bags have been fabricated to increase the structural rigidity and provide atmospheric protection with using the foregoing methods. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,337 by Wood, an approach is disclosed in which a plastic top cover is thermosealed to fairly standard plastic bag thereby sealing the contents and providing structural reinforcement around the top portion of the bag. However, this approach requires special assembly equipment, creates a permanent seal and provides only limited structural support. Another approach for providing an enclosed top with structural reinforcement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,142 by Canno. In the '142 patent, the bag top is folded similar to a box and a handle is drawn through a slot opening in the top. While this approach provides certain advantages, it provides the user with only a single handle, creates a taller bag into which the items must be raised farther prior to placement in the bag, requires scoring of the bag top to enable easy assembly, requires multiple folding steps in its assembly and creates a top that cannot easily be unfolded or lifted to permit quick access to the bag interior.
Boxes have been used as the material of choice for certain relatively delicate food items, such as doughnuts. The boxes are shipped flat to their end destinations and are usually assembled individually prior to placing product inside of the box. This process is inefficient as it requires assembly of the box prior to taking a customer's order and it uses a more expensive box instead of a less expensive bag. Also, the box is not equipped with handles for convenient transport.
Accordingly, as mentioned, the existing bags and boxes intended for holding products include significant limitations. As a result, significant improvement can still be made relative to creating a less expensive and more convenient product holder.